Rochdale Racist Attacker Jailed

10 September 2012, 17:11 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A Rochdale man who launched a racist attack on two Asian teenage boys has been jailed.

19 year old Duke Crosswaite, set upon the 16 and 17 year olds back in May. He and another attacker beat them with wooden sticks.

A passing taxi driver took the victims to hospital. Both suffered broken arms.

Crosswaite was arrested in June after being picked out in an identity parade by one of the victims. He admitted holding racist views in a police interview and has been sentenced to five years at a Young Offenders Institution.

Detective Constable Claire Rawcliffe, of Rochdale CID, said: "Like all cowards Crosswaite did not give any explanation for his unprovoked attack and gave his unsuspecting victims no chance to defend themselves.

"The fact his actions appear to be motivated by race mean this is an even worse incident. Rochdale has a long history of racial harmony and I know that isolated incidents like this are very much the exception."